Thursday, April 20, 2017

#AtoZChallenge - Perspectives: Quiet

When I was a child, I'd often lay in the lush green grass in the shade and stare up at the clouds slipping by. Playing with flowers and doodle bugs. Petting my dog.

As I became a teen, I wanted my music on in my room, even when I studied. I wanted music playing in my car, every time I hit the road.

When I became a married adult, we seemed to have music on outside, in our cars, TV or music in the house. There were children's toys with sounds. Always a cacophony of sound.

Somewhere in my thirties, I began to treasure the time at deer camp when nothing was playing, there was just the crackle of the fire and sounds of scurrying animals, the wind in the pines.

Fast forwarding to these past few years, I find I often ride down the road for long distances or even a whole trip without even turning on the radio. At home, if I am the only one up, I often read, or fiddle on the computer, work around the house, etc. without ever turning on anything.

I thank God I live somewhere I can still slip outside and often only hear nature sounds. Don't get me wrong, I still love my music when I am in the mood for it. I have TV shows I definitely don't want to miss. But, I seem to have come full circle in my life, to a point where I can treasure and value quiet just as much.

What about you, do you use a background noise or prefer quiet? Has your preferences changed at times?

24 comments:

I'm one of those people who has to have the radio or TV on to do anything, which I'm sure annoys my family at times! Music keeps me going while I'm doing my work - the only time I need silence is when I'm actually writing, as I need total focus on my characters. Not that I'm not focused on my other work, but it's a different kind. I do enjoy those quiet, relaxing times as well though.

I can relate to this a great deal. When I was younger (and especially the years when I was on the road and in my vehicle for some time most days) I almost always had music playing. When I started working in a mostly office job after age 40 I started listening to talk radio a lot. Now that I'm at home most of the day I'll listen to some talk radio, but I'll also have hours with nothing on. So peaceful!

I still love music, but I don't keep up with it like I used to and mostly fall back on old favorites and classical music. I long for being back in a place like TN where I could go to the mountains for a peaceful quiet walk and sit in a silent place to commune with my thoughts in the surroundings of nature.

It depends on my mood. I love quiet, and I also love music. Sometimes there's just so much noise in my life that I just want the volume turned off for a little while. There's nothing I love more than walking my dog through the woods and listening to just the nature sounds.Doree Weller

I remember when my children were little I would get up about an hour ahead of them so I could just sit back, enjoy my coffee and the quiet. Now with all my kids grown and most living far away, I enjoy my coffee and quiet while wishing for the hustle and bustle of raising children.

I prefer it quiet. I don't even own a radio to turn on for background noise. Everyone else seems to like noise. (Drove me crazy when I was helping someone move. They had to have music on for the packing. It only distracted me.)

I can relate to this so well! Having worked in offices for so many years where the phones are ringing non-stop, I developed a deep love for quiet, and when I am home alone or out driving there is typically nothing on, no tv, no radio, no music. You can hear the cats purring! When Papa Bear comes home the tv goes on and we watch our favorite shows together. I've learned that too much noise unsettles me and makes me irritable.

Well I like music too- especially in the car but I can't write with music on - it distracts me from my chain of thought. I am slowly morphing into my father though -at Christmas and on birthdays he would always ask for "p and q" ( peace and quiet) - now I ask for the very same thing!

John is the type of person who has the TV on every waking moment. Sometime not even knowing what is on so therefore I treasure quiet time when I can get it. When I was younger I loved the radio with country music and talk shows in the morning when I was cleaning house. Those days changed when my day changed with a retired rancher.

I love quiet and alone time so I very much relate to this. I have young kids right now so I don't get a lot of it - but LOVE Sunday mornings. My husband takes them out and I get to be blissfully alone. Often I read, or blog. So quiet. I also at time I can just walk to be alone and quiet. Same idea. It refreshes me. - Louise

My preferences have changed over the years, too. I used to sleep with the radio on when I was a young teenager and, for years, loved to watch television. I didn't like to have it blaring for hours on end like some folks (sitting at the desk next to me!), but I like watching it overall.

The house we live in, specifically this room, is very loud. I've never lived in a house where the house itself had so many noises. Couple that with loud neighbors and their growling, barking pack of aggressive dogs, and there's no hope for quiet.

I crave quiet. I *need* quiet. If I don't have it, I can't concentrate, I can't think, and pretty much, in some cases, become dysfunctional. Once, I had an employer that expected me to get something done, but he kept standing behind me talking non-stop. I stopped what I was doing because I couldn't do it with all the yapping. I told him he had a choice, either he could keep talking OR I could do what he asked me to do. The one absolutely excluded the other. There were many times of throwing my hands up there. I don't drive with the radio on anymore either, unless I am in the car alone (like when David has been hospitalized).

I need quiet, but I also don't like going hours without conversation with David. For the most part, my brain doesn't see talking with him as an interference to thinking.

I would love to live in a place where I could safely go outside and lie down under the stars and just take in all of the glory of Heavenly Father's beautiful, star-filled night sky, with no noise but the animal sounds and the breeze, and the smells of nature (especially honeysuckle). I could do that as a child back in South Carolina, but not here in Texas with chain-smoking neighbors, copperheads, and alligators. :)

I have moments of each, but when writing I like the music as a buffer to chase away other sounds. My wife bought me noise canceling Bluetooth headphones for Christmas and I really enjoy them. When I am outside working I will sometimes have music going, but I can just as happily go without.

I love music and I am married to a musician with a musician daughter. But I love nature and like the sound of birds and the wind and sea. Working I need absolute silence otherwise I will become distracted by the music and want to sing along!

I second all of these sentiments you shared. Plus it brought back a good memory of my father laughing as he said his house was held up by sound waves. I drive by the home every now and then. It has lost something without our noisy family living there.